Widzialność wyzwolona
Liberated Visibility

Contributor(s): Andrzej Gwóźdź (Editor), Natalia Gruenpeter (Editor)Subject(s): Media studies, Film / Cinema / CinematographyPublished by: Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii NaukKeywords: film; media; film studies; media studies; philosophy of technical image; apophatic techno-ontology; generative document; urban designing; video mapping of architecture; film trailer; mobile media; post-human cinema; virtual realitySummary/Abstract: The collective work edited by Andrzej Gwóźdź and Natalia Gruenpeter (coediting) and published within the “Biblioteka Kwartalnika Filmowego” [Library of Kwartalnik Filmowy] – the book series under the auspices of “Kwartalnik Filmowy” [Film Quarterly], prepared by the Department of Cultural Anthropology, Film and Audiovisual Arts of the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The volume “Liberated Visibility” is the aftermath of the Second Congress of the Polish Society for Film and Media Studies, which took place in December 2016 in Kraków (Poland). The book gathers fifteen articles based on the papers presented at the congress (within the panel discussion under the same title as the book) and concerning a wide range of issues, such as philosophy of technical image, apophatic techno-ontology, generative document, video mapping of architecture, film trailer, mobile media, biological and post-human cinema or virtual reality. The volume is accompanied by English abstracts of the articles and English notes on authors and editors.

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the discourse of film and photography conducted by Walter Benjamin and Siegfried Kracauer in the 1920s and 1930s. Their reflection on visibility occurs in a time of upheaval or twilight of the cultural formation based on a medium of writing and the related linear, word-based logical thinking. It is responsible for modern science and technology, but it is also accused of the destruction and distortion of the world. According to the German philosophers new media, such as film and photography, offer an opportunity for changing this situation – they are supposed to have both emancipatory and eschatological power, consisting of restoring original condition of things, the condition prior to their conceptual arrangements. It is a narrative in the field of “dream discourse”, which combines reflection on media with politics, social revolution and Hebrew messianism. The question is what such thinking is based on, why the authors have faith in a causative, synergistic effect which is to arise as the consequence of interaction of the qualities incommensurate with each other such as language texts, social events and technical pictures. The description of the immediate philosophical context of this problem, consisting of diagnoses of the twilight of the western culture as well as of the return-to-the-“things-themselves” projects, where the things were occluded and forgotten by their cultural pictures-representations, serve to solve this problem.

Summary/Abstract: Vilém Flusser (1920–1991) was one of the most important figures in the humanities in the second half of the 20th century, especially when we consider theory of culture oriented towards media theory and communicology. Unfortunately, in Poland he remains relatively unknown. On the other hand, readers and academicians all over the world seem to discover his thought anew (recent number of translations and monographs proves it). The aim of this article is derived from the conviction of the importance of Flusser’s theory – it is to familiarize Polish readers with his thought, especially within the reflection on the technical image as a main culture-forming factor. First part of the article is devoted to essential facts of Flusser’s biography. In the second part, the author reconstructs necessary definitions: he explains terms such as “technical image”, “apparatus” and “functionary”. The third and the final part deals with the cultural context which was and is, in Flusser’s opinion, produced by technical images and the social practices related to it.

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to provoke a change in the way of thinking about the visual in the electracy (post-orality and post-literacy) era. The article draws inspiration from visual studies and media theory (Flusser, Hansen, Kluszczyński, Michera, Ulmer) and philosophy (Agamben, Nancy, Taylor, Saarinen). The author places considerations on contemporary visuality in the context of the earlier and dominant models of thinking which treat the images as views and representations (idols) or as symbols and signs (icons, spectacles). These models are not suitable for describing and analysing of visions circulating through the digital media. The article contains a brief and metaphorical list of novelties characteristic of the electral visions – these are portions of programmed energy, which are rather touchable than visual, more emotive than significant, virtual than representational. In conclusion, the author proposes a conceptual framework that may be useful in understanding the electral visions: ancient Greek notions of “kharis” and “daidalon” (as Michera wrote about them), speculation (as understood by Agamben and Flusser) and adoration (concept by Nancy).

Summary/Abstract: The author argues that one of the current challenges in the postindustrial “third culture” should be the re-reading (“relegere”) of the discourse of religion and the discourse of knowledge in a postsecular approach. The author, in relation to Derrida’s later reflections, states that the “media machine” may generate a new, mystical model of perception, that deconstructs the idolatry of metaphysics of presence: both the rational discourse of knowledge and the dogmatic discourse of religion. The author interprets audiovisual media technique as a phenomenological “epochè”. “The machine” that set in motion an intuitive mode of ecstatic work signifies the movement of transgression of the subject-object duality and “immersion” in the unconditioned (pure) Being, which is the Other. On the basis of modern quantum physics, we can assume that the techno-ontology status is a natural extension of the trans-media space: the apophatic ontology of reality itself, which is opposite to a “hard presence”. It can be characterized by a wave structure: it cannot be defined as being or non-being, it is rather a kind of perpetual motion of “photons of light”. The video-installations of Bill Viola (“Martyrs” and “Fire Woman”) are the examples of proposed here technostrategy of vision transformation.

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is the analysis of “Clouds” (2014) by James George and Jonathan Minard – an interactive documentary (i-doc), which gained the status of a representative testimony of trans-medial intersections and hybrid strategies characterizing contemporary, digital and non-fictional narratives. In the analyses undertaken here, the crucial reference category is the concept of a “generative document”, which was suggested by two directors, as one of the clues of recognizing the identity and meaning of their film. Indeed, this category seems to properly define – as a consequence of the intentional decisions of George and Minard – the way of mutual balancing and synergic correlation between the experimental search for new forms of expression and the original approach to the presented reality. What is more, the figure of the generative document indicates a number of aesthetic qualities and structural solutions that have been transferred from the domain of algorithmic art/design giving “Clouds” unique formal characteristics. Finally, this category clearly manifests the primary purpose of the film, which is to construct a picture of contemporary creative coding practices – a complex, not obvious, mosaic portrait that emerges as a result of dynamic links within a relational database of short statements from over 40 renowned artists, designers, hackers and researchers. Detailed analyses of the generative strategies – revealed both in the visual and narrative layers – take data visualization as another reference point – a very important context for George and Minard’s project. Mapping techniques, methods of exploration and presentation of data collections not only correspond to the procedures of creative coding (through the use of an algorithmic generative process), but also shape current practices of the interactive documentary (due to the database organization).

Summary/Abstract: The author analyses the practice of video mapping as a form of “augmented” cinema in the urban environment – between the pole of performance and the pole of design. In the analysis he refers to traditional orders of screening (magic lantern, cinema) and experiments with “the art of light” (Bauhaus). Then as well as today visuality seems to be the result of a trick which replaces a “deep” look with a superficial one. Particular attention is paid to the pragmatics of the phenomenon, which is based on relating a place of projection with a mobile viewer-flâneur who haptically experiences urban screens. The author demonstrates an installation nature of similar screening practices (Peter Greenaway) leading to the fusion of architecture and designed images. While referring to designing Berlin by means of “good” light of video mapping he notes the cleansing nature of such practices in the city filled with the memory of “bad” light (the Second World War). As a result nowadays cinema triumphs as a transitive medium certifying a circulatory character of a light spectacle whose 120-year-old film history is only a short evidence of the continuity of the projection techno-culture.

Summary/Abstract: The author analyses Joanna Rajkowska’s art project “Born in Berlin” (2012), which consists of multimedia and multidimensional narration about the birth of the artist’s daughter, Rosa, in the German’s capital. The article reflects on the question of images of motherhood – both those present in Rajkowska’s project and those functioning within our culture – and the way the artist confronts images, with special attention being paid to the images of Berlin. The challenges faced by the artist, such as the story of her own pregnancy and labour and the life of her newly born child, are also discussed.

Summary/Abstract: The eponymous notions: expanded – condensed – imploded, describe changes in presentation and promotion of (audio)visual artworks, taking place when cinematic criteria (such as composing trailers) are applied to the artworld. The discussed examples are: trailer of a documentary about an artist (Gregory Crewdson), an “artworld trailer” (visual identification of Transmediale and TateShots), a trailer of a critical film project (Doug Fishbone, “Elmina”) and a subversive and performative Internet-bound trailer (Jennifer Lyn Morone [TM]). An expanded (after G. Youngblood) form reaches beyond the framework of a singular art genre. Therefore an exhibition may be a trailer of a full-length movie (Norman Leto). The condensed form operates with intensified message, which leads to its implosion because of multi-modal form and a dispersed contents. As a result, the trailer may be considered as a new meta-language of (audio)visual arts, that contributes to creating an image of an artist or an art institution, as a brand, in the era of attention economy. The continuous reduction of form to the shortest time unit (David Antin) and a progressing acceleration of circulating contents (Paul Virilio) transforms the trailer into a singular frame, not even supposed to be played.

Summary/Abstract: Contemporary urban social phenomena are formed within physical space, architecture and “urban media territories”. It requires redefining the concept of “public” space which exceeds the physical dimension of the city. Hence the “public” is determined by a social activity in the hybrid space. In digitally mediated urban spaces social relations are being actively constructed in the process of participation taking place within complex spatio-temporal frames. The aim of the article is to present some examples of using screens as “social interfaces” in the hybrid urban space. They not only change the nature of social communication in the urban space, but also transform it into a “relational space”, thus creating new forms of the urban social experience.

Summary/Abstract: The article elaborates on the transformation affecting the digital imagery production evolving along with the processes of saturating the physical space with various forms of data processing. Such procedures often are fully automated and carried out with minimal or no human intervention. One of the particularly significant examples in this regard are sensor-based communication networks aimed at generating the digital images based on the data taken directly from the physical environment. The adequate way of understanding such imagery sees it as the phenomena bridging the heterogeneous ontological realms and the plural modes of existence. The article argues that to adequately render their nature, the significant re-examination of the theoretical apparatus is needed, as the one currently in use is still grounded in the description of traditional media forms (including the early network culture). The process in question is exemplified by the trajectory between the first photograph of the Earth taken from the Apollo 17 in 1977 and the variety of twitterbots automatically generating the visual streaming based on the current data available from the space probes and satellites.

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the new form of imagery and narration from the border of new media art and science (“assistive technologies”, ethology, primatology). It describes relatively new cultural practices of using tablets in communication with people with the spectrum of autism and in interspecies communication with primates. The consequences in the area of communication stemming from the ease of usage of such interfaces, communication competences formed in these processes and semiotic status of such images are presented in detail. These examples will be compared here with certain creative projects from the area of cyberarts (which are also scientific in character), leading to the conclusion that the art, especially images, but also the cinema, may be created not only by humans and for humans, but also by other living organisms and for other living organisms, not necessarily conscious of the ongoing process. The projects presented here in details are: “Cinema for Primates”, “The Cell Camera”, “I’m Humanity”, and “Metabol A.I.”. The paradoxical status of the biological cinema, the post-human cinema or “the not-for-humans cinema” is analysed in relation to the broader anthropological and communication insight. We observe the consequences of such artistic and scientific activities for the understanding of the new imagery, the ubiquity of new visual technologies (postmedia) and the human condition.

Summary/Abstract: The paper describes certain problems of the economy of attention in the contemporary ecosystem of media in the context of networking based on the myth of liberal democracy. It compares the “ubicomp” paradigm with the problems of user experience, the issues of media agenda-setting and global possibilities of social engineering. This applies mainly to the manipulation of emotions which create the image of the world. The problems of user experience are presented also in the context of multitasking interface design. The attention of the user became one of the most important elements of the economic game, where participants are the owners of the interfaces and the content providers.

Summary/Abstract: The objective of the article is the analysis of virtual reality in the context of two forms of audiovisual experience – cinestalgia and mediaphilia. The author defines title concepts, proving the symbiotic character of cinestalgia and mediaphilia through a detailed description of two interesting elements of the contemporary audiovisual landscape, i.e. cinema in the virtual reality and virtual reality in the cinema. The analysis of cinema in the virtual reality is taken up using the example of the Oculus Video application. The author examines digitally created spaces of the cinema lobby and virtual screening rooms. By juxtaposing them with “real” cinemas, he emphasizes differences and similarities between these spaces, including the level of reception experience. In the section devoted to virtual reality in the cinema, the author describes attempts to introduce the medium of virtual reality within the traditional cinema space and draws attention to the problems resulting from such activities. In this article two spaces of the IMAX VR Center are also analysed, being an example of the so-called location-based VR. These spaces, created by IMAX, are one of the most distinct examples of symbiosis of cinestalgia and mediaphilia.

Summary/Abstract: The article is a media studies analysis that focuses on the concept of tactility and the tactile in relation to forms of media and imaginaries driving it within the switch from analogue to digital media environment. Starting with a map of possible theoretical frameworks conceptualizing main categories, by raising questions regarding cultural consequences, shapes and meaning of tactile actions and technologies, it concludes with analysis of possible consequences of tactility for contemporary media culture.

Summary/Abstract: The “Archeology of new media” is an example of multidimensional and multifactorial action designed for many media (the junction of photography, film screening, poetry, the world of cinema, theatrical performance and contemporary art). The narrative (its dramaturgy is organized by the poetic text layer) and the story have secondary importance here. They are only an excuse to show the various components of the undertaking. Large-format photographs illustrate individual chapters arranged in the gallery space, and the exhibition of each chapter is complemented by a film projection, accompanied by the voice of the narrator in the headphones, reading the poetry to individual chapters. Film sequences displayed in darkened gallery halls integrate individual components (accompanied by a narrator) that determines the individual rhythm of watching and listening. One of the main goals of the project “Archeology of new media” is a research in the field of successive generations of media storage devices that have been created and used since the 19th century, through the 20th and in the first decade of 21st century. In this case we can talk about the archeology of the contemporary world or the archeology of the present. Part of the archeology of the new media deals with the impact of time and natural elements on particular media generations (photosensitive paper and negative, magnetic tape, hard drive, optical disc, memory card). Another important problem is the matter of devices, programs and access to the right tools necessary to read content recorded in the media.

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